


The Ice Rink

by BlackKittens



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Big Hero 6: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Fluff, Ice Skating, Some Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 17:57:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20246944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackKittens/pseuds/BlackKittens
Summary: Hiro and Trina go on a date at an ice rink, where Trina tries to teach Hiro how to skate.





	The Ice Rink

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a cute ice skating date, but I'm still practicing writing romance ^^' so I'm not sure how fluffy it came out or not. It also kept getting longer with seemingly not much plot, so again, I apologize if the ending is abrupt (I think it's better than a few other stories' endings, but idk). I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Also, I've never been ice skating, only roller skating, so why I decided to write one character teaching the other how to skate is beyond me, haha.)

Atsuko’s Ice Rink was decently packed with people this Saturday afternoon. Hiro had never been to an ice rink before, so he wasn’t sure if this was normal, slow, or fast for a weekend day; there were plenty of ice rinks in San Fransokyo, but neither had Aunt Cass or Tadashi taken him to one nor had he ever visited one himself before. It wasn’t exactly his thing. So he wasn’t sure whether the semi-crowded rink would be enough space for him to learn how to skate on a centimeter of metal without crashing into anybody.

One thing was for sure, though; it was _ cold _ in here.

“What’s the temperature in here, twenty degrees?” Hiro asked. He could see a little bit of his breath as he spoke.

Trina laughed, grinning at him in her dark pink winter jacket. “I told you to bring warmer clothes than that spring jacket of yours. It’s eighty outside and freezing in here - it has to be because there’s _ ice, _ Hiro! Did you think I was kidding?”

“The last time I saw ice, I was like five and it melted by the time I woke up the next morning,” Hiro huffed, zipping up his jacket to his neck. “Not everyone in California owns a winter coat like you!”

Trina leaned against the protective wall around the rink, supporting her jaw with her finger and thumb. “I own one because I’ve been coming here off and on since I was a little kid, Hamada. I know this is your first time, but you could have brought your SFIT hoodie or something thicker to pull over your jacket.”

“I didn’t know it would be this cold!”

“How!? You’re a genius in college and you couldn’t put together that ice rinks equal cold air?” she teased. “Don’t worry, I like you anyway even if you are a bit of a dumby.”

Hiro punched her in the arm.

Trina smirked and launched a fist at his.

“If you two are going to fight, we might as well leave now, before they kick us out.”

Hiro stiffened at the low monotone and glanced up.

Mr. Aken stared the two of them down with disapproving, lidded eyes. Like his daughter, he also wore a winter coat, his black and lined with fur around the neck and zipper lines. In his hands were two pairs of small skates.

Trina snatched hers out of his hand and glared up at him. “Thanks.”

Her tone was frosty. Hiro winced. This was _ supposed _ to be a date, but Mr. Aken had pretty much forced himself along with them, to Trina’s chagrin. He’d given (forced them to accept) a ride and would be their ride home. He’d also be their supervisor (“babysitter,” Trina had spat the day before) while they were skating.

Mr. Aken regarded his daughter coolly. “You’re welcome. Here.”

He held out the other pair to Hiro.

Hiro took them gingerly. “Uh, thanks, Mr. Aken.”

Mr. Aken pressed his lips together in a thin line. “Hm. Try not to fall on top of Trina out there. Your skates are essentially blades and they could easily cut someone.”

A shiver ran up Hiro’s spine. He had a feeling those two sentences weren’t connected in the way they sounded and in fact had two separate meanings.

Mr. Aken was weird. No, creepy was a better word for it. Hiro could respect that he was also a robotics genius, but he gave off these less than pleasant vibes he just couldn’t get used to. Even Aunt Cass, who got along decently with him these days, said the creepy vibe hadn’t gone away for her yet either. The weirdest part was that he seemed to like Hiro, most of the time, but ever since he and Trina started dating, Mr. Aken tended to flop between openly liking Hiro and making him feel like he’d love to gut him like a fish.

“Okay, _ thanks,” _ Trina repeated. “You can go sit in the stands or buy a hotdog at the food stands over there. We’re going out onto the ice.”

Mr. Aken slid his eyes towards her in mild contempt, but said nothing in return. After a moment of staring each other down, he quietly moved away.

Hiro shuddered - probably from the cold, but he suspected Mr. Aken as well. “Do you ever get the feeling he hates me for dating you?”

Trina rolled her eyes. She went to sit down on the closest bench. Hiro followed her.

“No,” she said, untying her sneakers. “Trust me, I can see him planning our wedding in his head sometimes. He likes you a lot and would rather keep you around so he can drag you into his experiments, and he’s told me he’s glad I’m dating you instead of some Good Luck Alley hoodlum.”

“He does remember we both ran around Good Luck Alley, right?” Hiro started yanking off his own sneakers.

She pulled on her skates. “Yup. His point was someone way older than me that would actually _ hit _ hit me and all that junk. But no, he doesn’t hate you. You just also happen to be dating his _ little girl _ and that gives him mixed feelings. He’s so embarrassing.”

“Wow.” Hiro fumbled a bit get his skates on and tie them. “So that’s why he’s here, huh? He’s feeling extra overprotective today?”

Trina gave him a flat look. “You have your brother and I have my father.”

Hiro laughed awkwardly. 

Tadashi and Trina had not had the best introduction to each other - Hiro didn’t expect his brother to like anyone who mouthed off to him about dragging Hiro away from another bot-fight, but learning this mouther was his new best friend and sort of crush/girlfriend hadn’t helped. He’d seen Trina as a bad influence that would only make Hiro stick with crime.

“Oh, come on. Tadashi let up on us after you left Good Luck Alley behind. He teases us all the time!”

“Whatever,” Trina scoffed. “He gives me the same, ‘If you hurt him…’ vibes my father gives you. Well, no, my father’s DEFINITELY worse, but you get the picture. Like I said, you have your brother and I have my father.”

She stood up, took Hiro by the wrists, and helped him stand.

Hiro wobbled. “Um, how many times do you think I’ll fall out there?”

“I fell a lot when I three,” Trina offered. “Then again, I was a toddler; you’re a gangly teenage boy. Guess we’ll see!” she sang.

Hiro groaned. He let her lead him to the rink gate and carefully followed her inside, hanging onto the wall for support.

Trina slid a few inches away and put her hands on her hips. “You can’t hang onto the wall if you’re going to learn how to stay upright. Come on, falling’s part of learning.”

“You just _ want _ to see me fall, don’t you?” he snarked. “You know, I don’t want to fall flat on my face on ice. It’ll hurt. Can’t ice burn you or something?”

“Burn!? It’s not that cold in here, Hamada. Besides, you won’t fall on your face, you’ll fall on your butt and your hands. It’s not that bad.” She gave him a once over. “Then again, maybe you should have brought gloves. If you think the ice will burn you, you’re way too used to the heat outside. Wouldn’t want you getting frostbit.”

Hiro started. “C-Can I get frostbite in here?”

All he knew about frostbite was that it turned limbs black and people had to get blackened limbs cut off. He needed his limbs. Particularly his hands. How was he going to invent without his hands!?

Trina smiled wide.

Hiro scowled. He fell for it. “Ha ha, you’re so funny. Are you going to show me what to do, or what?”

“Sure. First you have to get off the wall.”

“I’ll fall.”

“Falling’s part of learning.”

“You _ do _ want to see me fall on my face!”

“Oh geeze.” Trina reached forward and grabbed his closest hand. “Here, I’ll keep you upright. Now push off the wall.”

Hiro reluctantly obeyed, keeping his feet still and slowly straightening out his spine.

“Good,” Trina praised. “Now we move.”

“H-How?” Hiro asked.

“You slide one foot in front of the other,” she answered. “Like this.”

Trina moved forward a couple paces, dragging Hiro along with her. Hiro wobbled, not following this time, and hunkered over to keep his balance. Their arms stretched between them.

“Come on, Hiro,” she encouraged. “It’s like sliding on a wooden floor in your socks. Slide one foot in font of the other.”

Other skaters glided past them with such ease and cheeriness, Hiro wondered how long it took _ them _ to find their ice legs. He wasn’t used to standing on such thin blades. It was most certainly _ not _ like sliding on wooden floors in socks.

“I - I think I’m good,” he said. “Hey, why don’t we don’t a break and get something to eat first? Then we can come back on the ice - Hey!”

Trina slid around and grabbed his other hand, skating backwards and pulling him forward. “Yeah, no. Stand up, you’re heavy like this.”

Hiro looked down at his shaky feet. He gulped. He was definitely going to fall sooner or later.

_ “Hiro.” _

“Okay, okay.” Still shaking, Hiro did his best to relax and stand up to full height.

“Finally,” Trina said. They slowly moved around the end curve of the rink. “See? It’s not so bad.”

Hiro finangled his wrists so he could latch onto hers as well. “Just don’t let go.”

“Never, Rose.”

“Shut up.”

Trina grinned mischievously.

Hiro focused on stilling his feet. If anything made him lose his balance when she did inevitably let go, it would be that first.

“Don’t be so stiff,” she advised. “You’re not going to hurt yourself by falling. Don’t be such a baby.”

“Thanks,” he huffed. Then, to distract the both of them with conversation, asked, “So, you’ve been coming here since you were three?”

“Yeah, my father always brought me,” she replied. “It was a daddy-daughter thing I guess. My mom came a couple times when she was alive.”

“So you’re pretty good at this?”

“Eh, we came here more often when I was younger. It’s been, like, a once a year thing as I got older so I’m not in that much practice. But it’s also like riding a bike; you don’t really forget how to do it, you just gotta get used to it again.”

“And you got used to it pretty quick,” Hiro commented.

Trina shrugged. “It’s not my favorite hobby, but I like coming here. That’s why I invited you here.”

“Great,” he mumbled, not because that was a bad thing but because he was looking at his feet again.

He thought he finally had his feet still. They weren’t shaking anymore. But they also felt like they’d start up again if he relaxed his legs.

Trina noticed him staring. “Okay, next step. Actually move your feet. I won’t let go, just move.”

Hiro tried.

Tried, as in, slid his right foot forward an inch, and promptly almost slipped.

Trina jerked, holding him up as his knees buckled. “Come on, up! Didn’t you go through worse in your old martial arts classes with your brother? Him shoving and throwing you around and all that? You’re fine; don’t buckle your knees, it’ll make you lose your balance.”

Hiro groaned at himself. To be honest, this wasn’t exactly how he’d pictured this date going. He hadn’t expected it to be so cold, he hadn’t expected it to be so hard to stay upright, and he’d kind of hoped they’d sneak off away from her dad by now to go make out. Instead, he was struggling to simply stand.

“There you go,” Trina said he got his bearings. “Try again.”

Hiro moved his foot forward less than an inch this time. He didn’t buckle, but his nerves hadn’t evaporated. “Why is this so much harder than it looks?”

“You’ll get it,” she encouraged. “Move your other foot. Keep moving.”

“Won’t I bump into you?”

“At your pace, no.”

Hiro resisted the urge to respond. So he did he as he was told, and hesitantly moved his his left foot forward.

“Good, good,” she said. “Keep going.”

Hiro moved his right foot less than inch. Then his left. He wobbled and froze, but Trina kept them going forward. The other skaters around them avoided the couple. Hiro kept moving his feet, concentrating on not falling.

“You’re getting the hang of it,” Trina remarked brightly. “See? Move a bit farther. Keep your balance.”

Hiro went for a full inch again. His ankle protested, wiggling in his skate. He tightened his grip on Trina’s wrists.

“You’re doing it,” she said. “Left foot now.”

His left followed.

By the time they reached the other curved end of the rink, Hiro felt like a toddler taking his first real steps forward. Nevertheless, he relaxed a bit.

Trina slowed to a near halt. “Okay, one hand now. I don’t want to keep skating backwards.”

Hiro’s head shot up. “What!? No, I’ll definitely fall! The ice is a lot harder than the mats Tadashi used to throw me on, you know!”

“For the last time, the ice isn’t going to hurt you,” she scoffed. “You’re doing fine. We’ll keep going slow. Give me one of my hands back.”

Hiro sighed, but loosened his grip on her left hand. She retracted it, and glided from in front of his to his left side. Hiro stiffened to prevent himself from buckling again.

Trina squeezed the hand she continued to hold. “One foot in front of the other, just like before.”

They ventured forward at a snail’s pace. If Trina minded, she didn’t say so. Hiro was just glad he wasn’t lying on his face.

“So,” he decided to strike up conversation again, so their date wouldn’t be entirely silence and teaching him how to skate, “how’s school going?”

“Boring, as usual. Sometimes I wonder why I’m still there,” she shrugged. “My teachers love my grades and work ethic and hate my bored attitude. What else is new?”

“You’re smart enough to graduate early and come to SFIT. You really should,” he suggested, not for the first time.

Trina held up her pointer finger. “Oh, that’s right! I want to enjoy the free time I do have before I get bogged down with college homework like you are. Thanks for reminding me, Hiro.”

“I’m just saying,” he said. “I didn’t think SFIT would be cool at all, but it is. You’d love it.”

“Eh,” she cocked her head. “Maybe. But I’m not that eager to leave school just to go to school again, you know?”

“Yeah.” He couldn’t disagree with that. “You could graduate early, though. You don’t have to go to college right away. Imagine how much free time you’d have then! I loved spending all my time in my room and the garage when I graduated.”

“That’s a good point,” she mused. “Maybe I will. But I’d have to arrange to take the test and get everyone’s permission and everything. I might at the end of the school year. Speaking of school, how are you doing at the super fun institute?”

Hiro beamed, suddenly remembering something he’d wanted to tell her. “You know that research grant I’m getting?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“They’re going to interview me for the news and newspaper. It’s going to be awesome! Tadashi and Aunt Cass are really proud,” he said.

“That’s exciting!” Trina smiled. “You going to dress up for it?”

“Professor Sato said business casual is probably the best idea. So, a button up and a tie would be good,” he explained. “They’re going to ask me all about my projects and what I plan to do with the grant. It’s still a couple weeks away, but I can’t wait!”

She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m happy for you! You worked hard for this. Do you get to go on TV, or will the interview be pre-recorded?”

“Pre-recorded. They’re going to do it in the labs. They want to see my other projects, too.”

“Nice,” she commented. “Hey, don’t tell anyone I told you this, but your brother and friends are planning a mini-party to celebrate the night after they officially give you the grant. I’m helping.”

Hiro perked up. “Really? That’s cool! Is there going to be cake?”

“Your friend Fred pretty much demanded cake.”

“Sounds like Fred. Awesome!”

“Yup,” Trina agreed. “Okay, you ready to let go of my other hand now?”

Hiro did a double take. “What?”

“You’re skating, Hiro,” she pointed at his feet.

He was moving a little easier, one foot forward at time and organically followed by the other inch by inch.

“I’ll be here next to you,” she told him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Hiro looked at her with big eyes. “I thought couples held hands while they skated. I thought that was a date thing!”

“It is,” she said. “Couples also go faster than turtles. You need to learn how to skate on your own. We can hold hands again when you can skate at a decent pace.”

Hiro’s shoulders slumped. “Fine.”

He reluctantly released her hand.

Without Trina there to support and lead him, Hiro flailed his hands a bit to keep his balance as he slid inch by inch forward. He slid a total of three inches when his feet betrayed him, and he landed on his back and palms.

The ice was cold. Very cold. Hiro was glad he typically wore two shirts under his jacket. Touching the floor of the rink was like squeezing ice cubes in his hands.

Trina giggled the whole time she spent bending down to help him up. “See? That wasn’t the worst in the world, was it?”

Hiro moaned. His poor back. “You know what, I want a divorce.”

Trina clicked her tongue, steadying him on his feet. “What about the children?”

“I’ll take custody of Megabot, you can keep your centipede.”

“Excuse you, Viperidae has a name,” she chuckled. “You all right?”

He stretched his back. “Yeah, I’m good. That did hurt, though.”

“You poor thing,” she tilted her head. “Okay, start again. You’re actually getting this pretty fast for someone who’s never ice skated before.”

“Yeah?” he joked. “Think I can make it to the Olympics?”

“Oh, absolutely,” she smirked.

They both laughed.

“Okay, I’m going,” he began to move, taking his time and not going for anything big.

Trina nodded approvingly. “There you go. You’re doing good.”

Hiro smiled shyly. “Thanks.”

When he was positive his legs weren’t going to wobble, he looked up at her.

“What?” she asked.

“I guess this is kind of fun,” he admitted. “It’ll probably be _ more _ fun when I can go faster, but yeah. I can see why you and your dad come here.”

Trina scoffed lightly. “Are you telling me you didn’t think this would be fun? You need to get out of your house and brother’s lab more.”

Hiro rolled his eyes, playful. “Hey, I like skateboarding and playing soccer and basketball! That counts as going outside! And I didn’t say I didn’t think this would be fun at all; it’s just that, you know, I’m kind of relearning how to walk here.”

A new voice chimed in, “Indeed you are. You certainly remind me of the days where_ this one _ just about hobbled over every time she took a step.”

Hiro’s knees buckled in surprise.

Trina slid around behind him and grabbed him by the waist before he could face plant forward, hauling him back upright. “Father!”

Mr. Aken stared at them dully from his place perched over the wall. “What? It’s true. If I hadn’t been holding your hands over your head, you likely wouldn’t have a nose today.”

Trina glared, and let go, gliding over to her father at the wall.

Hiro quickly latched onto the edge to steady himself, already unbalanced.

To be fair, there was nothing unusual about Mr. Aken leaning on the rink wall, watching them. It wasn’t exactly like all the other times, where he sneaked up on people out of nowhere, seemingly appearing out of the shadows. Nevertheless, he always got Hiro, and Hiro wasn’t a big fan of that - especially while he could barely walk.

“Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere _ else?” _ Trina snipped. “We’re trying to have a date here. A date _ you’re _ imposing yourself on by being at the rink at all!”

Mr. Aken tapped his cheek with two fingers, bored. “My, you have quite the lip today, young lady. I always bring you to Atsuko’s Ice Rink; that doesn’t change simply because you have a boyfriend.”

Trina growled.

Hiro didn’t blame her. He wouldn’t want Tadashi or Aunt Cass following them around on their dates, whether out of overprotectiveness or not, and he certainly didn’t want to be around Mr. Aken long while he was in Let’s Intrude on My Daughter’s Date mode.

He gently pushed himself off the wall, muttering to Trina. “Hey, why don’t we _ skate away _ from him?”

With one last glare directed at her dad, Trina snatched Hiro by the hand and shot forward.

“Whoah!” Hiro stumbled, the metal of his back skate skewing at the ice behind the other.

He didn’t fall, though, and Trina slowed down when she deemed them far away enough from her father.

“I still can’t believe he’s here,” she grouched. “This better be the only date he ‘supervises.’ What does that even mean!? I know how to skate, you’re learning how to skate, and it’s not like we’re going to do _ it _ on the ice!”

Hiro blushed fiercely. “Th-That would be cold,” he awkwardly remarked, not sure what to say to that.

Trina gave him a flat look.

He grinned nervously. “S-Sorry.”

She shook her head. “Boys,” she muttered.

Hiro decided to change the subject. “Hey, I - I think I’m getting it! Going a bit faster now. We don’t have to not hands to go faster than a turtle.”

Trina’s face softened, and she looked at him with quirked up lips. “You just like holding my hand, don’t you?”

“You _ are _ my girlfriend and this _ is _ a date,” he reminded her, glad to be off the subject of her dad. “Of course I like holding your hand.”

She squeezed his fingers, a light blush sprinkling her cheeks. “How sweet. You really know how to talk to a girl, Hiro.”

“I can’t tell if that sounds sarcastic or not,” he teased. “What, are you embarrassed I like holding my girlfriend’s hand? Or do you like it when I say gushy stuff like that? Because that’s barely gushy and I can think of a LOT gushier. Speaking of which, have I told you how pretty you look today? I _ think _ that’s a boyfriend requirement and I’ve been slacking lately.”

Trina laughed, cheeks darkening. She jerked to the side to nudge him with her shoulder.

Unfortunately, she did so when they were turning at the curve of the end of the rink, and she either put too much force into it or Hiro wasn’t as steady as he believed he was, and before they knew it, they were crashing on the ice in a tangle of limbs, Trina half lying on top of him.

Despite the hard hit and shock of actually falling like that, though, they both burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe I did that!” she giggled, pushing herself up on her hands, and wincing. “Yup, you’re right, the ice is cold. Glad I’m wearing fingerless gloves instead of nothing…”

“Told ya,” Hiro chuckled, somewhat breathless at their position.

A few skaters stared and chortled on their way by.

Trina pulled herself up and offered Hiro her hand.

He accepted it, dragging himself up with far less grace.

“Thanks,” he said once he was on his feet, wiping at his jacket.

She ran her fingers through the long lock of hair laying in front of her shoulder. “No problem."

When they were both steady, they rejoined their hands and took off.

“You know,” Hiro mused. “Now that I’m getting the hang of this, I’m getting some ideas. You know what would be awesome?”

Trina raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“If we put rockets on the back of our skates! Well, not these ones; we’d have to buy our own. But can you imagine how fast we’d go on rocket powered ice skates!? Oh, and imagine if we could freeze the bay and test them on there!”

Her eyes brightened. “That is a neat idea. We could race on the bay! We’d need some sort of freeze ray, though. I’m sure we can come up something. The real problem would be avoiding the coast guards. We can’t freeze them, can we? They’ll definitely throw us in jail.”

“Actually,” he drew out the word, “Fred’s family owns a private island. He wants the whole gang to take a vacation there sometime. You could come along and we could freeze the waters there!”

“Then we need to take that vacation soon! Besides, going to a private island sounds like the best,” she enthused. “Your friend Gogo’ll probably want to race, too. How many heart attacks do you think your brother will have?”

“None, so as we’re safe about it,” Hiro told her. “And yeah, Gogo’ll definitely want in. Do you know where we can buy some ice skates?”

“Not really. A sports store, maybe?” she suggested. “We should check online.”

“Totally.”

As they talked about how they were going to go about their rocket powered, ocean-freezing ice skate race, neither noticed the dark waves emitting from across the rink behind the wall since their tangled fall. It didn’t really matter, though, because they were having fun (and at the end of the day Mr. Aken wasn’t going to do anything anyway, as Trina reassured Hiro when they finally did notice three laps later).

**Author's Note:**

> I gave Trina's bot a name. I'll explain why 'Viperidae' in another fic (when I finally finish the WIP), but it's not really important here, so. *Shrugs*


End file.
